


Caring is easier said than done

by laheysmythes



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Happy Ending, Injury, M/M, Medical Inaccuracies, about the medical tag i just tagged it because i wrote that part from what i've watched on tv, canon compliant up to 6x18, theo does care - for someone at least
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-18
Updated: 2017-09-18
Packaged: 2018-12-31 05:04:33
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,517
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12125121
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/laheysmythes/pseuds/laheysmythes
Summary: “You can’t take pain away if you don’t care!” Mason had told Theo after he had tried, several times, to grab Mason’s arm and take away some of the pain he was feeling, but failed either way.Or two times Theo tries to take away someone else's pain, but he can't, and one time he tries with Liam, and all of a sudden it works.





	Caring is easier said than done

**Author's Note:**

> Okay I had to write something after those two episodes because this is the only way I cope. Also the thiam tag on tumblr got this idea on me and I couldn't shake it out of my head until I did something about it.
> 
> Credit to the prompt idea to this blog, who pointed out the heavy foreshadowing in 6x18, and I'm so here for this to happen in canon: http://jinkiesrpt.tumblr.com/post/165461353800/the-reason-they-did-that-scene-with-mason-and-theo

“You can’t take pain away if you don’t care!” Mason had told Theo after he had tried, several times, to grab Mason’s arm and take away some of the pain he was feeling, but failed either way. 

At first Theo thought it might had something to do with his powers, since he was a chimera and he hadn’t really tried to take someone else’s pain since he came back from hell. He had only done so to take someone else’s power away, but that was back when he was still considered the Dread Doctors’ experiment.

He huffed in anger at his lack of power but nonetheless helped Mason up to get out of the tunnels.

\---

Second time he tried was out of curiosity. He had followed Scott and company to Monroe’s secret lair, to apparently find where some other werewolf allies were being kept locked up. He had been there once, back when that hunter trapped him and those other two omegas, and he had managed to barely escape after a while.

He found one of the werewolves lying on the floor in a corner, still alive but clearly wounded and in pain. His clothes were still wet, and it seemed like he had been electrocuted recently.

Kneeling down, Theo took the werewolf’s arm, trying once again to take away some of his pain. He really focused on it,  _ do it,  _ he kept repeating himself over and over, until he gave up after a while and let go of the arm.

Scott found Theo a couple of minutes later, quickly kneeling by his side. “Ethan,” Scott whispered, and grabbed his arm, black veins clearly started to become noticeable in Scott’s hand, a sign that he was taking the pain away.

Theo stared in jealousy, wondering what he was doing wrong, but decided not to ask.

_ You don’t care enough,  _ a voice in his head repeated.

“Help me get him up,” Scott motioned for Theo to take the other arm to get the werewolf in a standing position so they could get him out of there. 

\---

It’s not like Theo didn’t  _ care,  _ I mean he didn’t want them dead or anything, he just simply wanted to help sometimes, but he didn’t care on a Scott McCall level where he would just care for any stranger, or even help an enemy. He just wasn’t that kind of person.

Maybe he was doomed to not care enough, or maybe he had some kind of fail that didn’t allow him to take away pain like the rest of the werewolves. He didn’t know why it bothered him so much.  He had been thinking about it for several days now, the thought gnawing at him and wouldn’t leave him alone.

He was currently with Liam at the hospital, seemed kind of a déjà vu to that one time they were actually hiding and running for their lives during the Wild Hunt, only now they were facing the Anuk-Ite, the hunters and also avoiding being turned into stone.

They were currently running off to the elevator, a hunter shooting at both of them from behind. When they both made it to the elevator, Theo was relieved that they had missed all of the bullets that were fired at them. That’s until he sensed pain radiating off of Liam, he realized that apparently they hadn’t missed all of them.

The bullet had gotten stuck in Liam’s right leg. He sat down on the floor of the elevator, trying to figure out a way to get it out with his claws so it could start healing. Theo pushed the emergency stop button, so it could buy both of them time to help Liam before facing off the hunters again.

Theo kneeled down next to Liam and analyzed the wound. It wasn't that deep, meaning it would be easier to get out. There wasn’t a lot of bleeding either, thankfully. It was ironic, that even though it was a hospital, he couldn't go for medical supplies, like alcohol at least, without possibly getting caught. Hoping for the best, he got his claws out, and carefully tried to get the bullet out. 

“This is gonna hurt,” was the only warning he gave Liam before he took the bullet out, because the sooner they were done with it, the better. Liam yelped in pain, muttered some curses under his breath.

“Okay, now just wait at least a couple of minutes for it to heal a little bit, or at least until the bleeding stops enough for you to stand up so we can get out of here,” Theo indicated, sitting next to Liam in the elevator. Despite the bullet being out, he could still see Liam was in great pain. 

“Can you…” Liam started asking, raising his right arm towards Theo, motioning for him to grab it.

“Take away your pain? Oh, I can’t, actually,” Theo sighed, and it only earned him a glare from Liam.

“What do you mean you  _ can’t _ ? You’re a werewolf, you can take away pain,” Liam said bitterly.

“Believe me, I tried, it doesn’t work-” Theo tried to argue but was cut off.

“Excuse me,  _ my bad _ , I forgot you didn’t care for anyone but yourself-”

“You know what? Fine! You wanna see how it doesn’t work? Here, let me show you-” Theo exclaimed and held onto Liam’s wrist, ready to prove his point, but was proved wrong when he started to feel the sensation of pain climbing up his arm. He looked at it and saw black veins rolling up his arm, a sign he was indeed taking away Liam’s pain.

Theo turned to look at Liam, who was also looking at him as surprised as he was. Theo shockingly gasped: on one hand his powers worked just fine, but on the other hand it made him realize that maybe there was one person he cared for after all.

“I, uh, I take back what I said,” Liam started softly after Theo had let go of his arm and went to sit again next to him. “Thank you, it did help.”

“Yeah, yeah, sure, no problem,” Theo brushed it off, deep in his thoughts. He stared at Liam for a while, as if he was a mystery he couldn’t really decipher, looked at him as if the boy had the answers he was looking for to justify all of his latest decisions and reckless behavior, as if he was responsible for getting Theo to care.

Liam noticed the look that Theo was giving him, all more suddenly aware of his presence after the accidental revelation. Should he ask about it? Should he ask that if him caring about Liam was the reason he had stayed? He decided not to do so right now, but made a mental note so he wouldn't forget about it later.

“What?” he asked in the end, mostly because he didn’t exactly know what to say.

Theo smirked. “Ready to go fight when you are.”

Liam got up slowly, testing to see if he was ready. He hadn't healed completely, but at least he could make it to the exit of the hospital without having to be carried by someone. And he couldn’t believe he was about to say this but, he knew that somehow, in some way, Theo had his back and wouldn’t let him get killed.

“Let’s go kick some ass then,” Liam replied.

\---

Once the Anuk-Ite was gone, along with the hunters, and they were safe for the near future, Liam wasn’t going to let Theo live down the elevator incident.

“So, can we finally talk about how you care about me?” Liam innocently started the conversation, genuinely curious.

“Not gonna happen,” Theo replied, killing the topic.

“I mean, you kind of already admitted to it, since you know, I’m the only one that you care enough for to take pain away with your powers,” Liam said.

Theo stopped walking, turning around, decided to get close enough into Liam’s space until he was face to face with him. He stared at him for a few good seconds, making Liam a bit nervous. 

“Good luck trying to prove anything. There weren’t any witnesses,” he said in a low voice, and then smirked, walking away from him.

“Why are you like this- wait, Theo, wait up!” Liam said, trying to catch up with him.

These were the facts: Yes, Theo cared about Liam, and he wasn’t in denial about it. 

Yes, Liam knew that he cared despite the multiple times Theo kept denying it. 

Yes, in a way, Liam had started to care about Theo too. 

Would they ever admit it out loud to each other? Probably not for a while, but they showed it through their actions. They did fight and annoy each other to no end on a daily basis, though.  Probably in the somewhat near future their petty arguments would end up in making out or something else to release the tension.  But for now, the important thing at the end of the day was that they had each other’s company, which was enough.


End file.
